YoSmael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of Mexico’s most powerful drug traffickers and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, pleaded not guilty on Friday before a judge in El Paso (USA) for the crimes of drug trafficking and money laundering that the American justice system accuses him of.
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In a document seen by Efe, Zambada’s defense informed the U.S. courts on Friday that he was declaring himself not guilty of the charges against him.
Lopez Obrador asks the United States for a complete report on the arrest of Zambada
For his part, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked the United States on Friday for a “complete report” on the operation in which Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of drug trafficker Joaquín ‘el Chapo’ Guzmán, were arrested in Texas on Thursday.
“The United States government must provide a full report, not just general statements, there must be information, there must be transparency,” the president said at his morning press conference.
At the press conference, the Secretary of Security, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, revealed that The Mexican government “did not participate” in the operation and that the United States Embassy communicated on Thursday when the arrest of both drug trafficking leaders had already occurred. at an airfield near El Paso, Texas.
The arrest sparked controversy in Mexico because López Obrador has criticized the interference of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and even reformed the National Security Law at the end of 2020 to restrict the participation of foreign agents.
A photograph showing the private plane that transported Ismael “el Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, at a private airport on Thursday in Santa Teresa, New Mexico (United States). The United States arrested Ismael ‘el Mayo’ Zambada in Texas on Thursday, leader and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, who had been sought by US authorities for decades and had a reward of 15 million dollars, according to the Department of Justice. Along with Zambada, Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of Joaquín ‘el Chapo’ Guzmán, was arrested.
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For this reason, he now asked the US to clarify whether the capture of Mayo and Guzmán López occurred when they left in a small plane from the northwest of Mexico, and He asked the press “not to speculate” and to wait for official information from the White House.
“We don’t even know if it was the DEA or another agency. We have to wait. I’m sure they will inform us fully and then we will be able to know things for sure. We won’t be able to stop the speculations,” he said.
At the National Palace, Rodriguez also denied that the United States had released another of El Chapo’s sons, Ovidio Guzman, saying that there was only “a change in the precautionary measure,” although the U.S. has yet to clarify whether there was a negotiation with the Guzmans to hand over Zambada.
Progress against drug trafficking and joint work with the US
Despite his claims, the Mexican leader defended that the United States “has no distrust” of his government, which “has always asked for respect.”
He also described the operation as “an important step forward in the fight against drug trafficking” and “a sign that there is joint work, even though in this specific case neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Ministry of the Navy participated.”
“We do not lie and we do not hide information because we only have the people of Mexico as our master. We are not the property of any economic or political group, neither in Mexico nor abroad, so the truth, always,” he said.
While the conference was taking place in Mexico, US President Joe Biden He hailed the arrest as a blow to the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, which he described as “one of the deadliest enterprises in the world.”
Yesterday, @TheJusticeDept arrested Ismael Zambada Garcia and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, two alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel known for moving fentanyl into the US
I commend law enforcement for making these arrests and their work to bring Sinaloa Cartel leaders to justice.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 26, 2024
Zambada, who also has four arrest warrants in Mexico, will face charges in the United States for drug trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering, murder and kidnappingwhile Guzmán López is accused of trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamines.
The capture of Zambada, for whom the Justice Department was offering $15 million, occurs three months before the presidential elections in the United States, where fentanyl trafficking from Mexico and the power of Mexican cartels have been a key issue.
“It is good to arrest the leaders and bosses of drug trafficking gangs, but it is better to address the causes,” López Obrador said.
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